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[CHRIS]

Bear-Faced Cow,

Yes, Satan must like elevator music (ha ha).  A lot of my music sounds pretty dark, but typically has vaguely Christian lyrics.  Not that I’m into death metal (mostly because of the vocals), though I’ve heard of “Christian” death metal bands.  Not that you can understand a single word of the vocals.  I guess if their heart is in the right place…..

https://www.soundclick.com/aaronaardvark

Cubase 10.5, iMac OSX 10.15.7, memory 8GB, Steinberg UR22 mkII interface

[CHRIS]

As Homer Simpson would say, “Darn brain!”  I read the article, though he said to mix it pretty loud!  And I’ve noticed my hearing/brain is not consistent from day to day either.  Whatever I have recorded most recently, I have that it rather loud, because I want to clearly hear it to make sure it’s OK.  And then over the course of a few days, I keep having to turn that track down lower and lower, until it sounds OK, over time.  Van Halen is one of my favorite bands, Eddie is my favorite musician.  I played at Gazzarri’s in West Hollywood in 1984 in a (mostly) cover band.  Van Halen used to play there a lot before they became famous; they even played there after they were famous.  A friend of mine saw Van Halen play at a backyard party in Pasadena, CA way before they became famous.  I lived in Glendora, CA from 1971 to 1987: bassist Michael Anthony lived there a long time.  I have a friend that is a pilot, used to make money doing aerial photography; took pictures of Michael Anthony’s house in Glendora; lived in a gated area.  One day, I tagged along with my friend in his truck; we drove to Michael Anthony’s house (roughly 30 years ago), it looked a bit like a castle when I saw it.  My friend said to stay in his truck & not talk to Michael; who was in the front yard.  While they talked, Michael’s good-looking blonde wife came outside & smiled at me.  One day, I was eating lunch at Burger Continental (a Greek restaurant) in Pasadena (roughly 20 years ago).  My wife later noticed David Lee Roth showed up, by himself.  So I walk up to Roth, and said, “Hey,Dave!”  He slowly looked up & clearly wasn’t thrilled to see me.  I asked him about playing at Gazzarri’s.  He put up with me for a minute, then he said, “Well, good luck to you!”  I took the hint & left him alone after that.  He was all chatty with the waitresses though, what a surprise!  A female coworker of mine lived in Pasadena; she ran into Roth at a grocery store & he was totally hitting on her; she wasn’t interested.  My dental hygienist had a female friend that was driving on the freeway, and a big limo pulls up to the side of her car.  David Lee Roth rolls down the window & hangs out the window, hitting on this gal.  She was interested, but had to pick up her mother at the airport, so she passed on that.  So which albums are you talking about?

https://www.soundclick.com/aaronaardvark

Cubase 10.5, iMac OSX 10.15.7, memory 8GB, Steinberg UR22 mkII interface

[CHRIS]

But then you write “devil music” and then you only get compliments from the devil worshippers.   😉   I know this guy (haven’t seen him in years), friend of a friend,  that is/was a serious devil worshipper.  About 20 years ago, he lived in a 2 bedroom apartment, and one of the bedrooms was completely devoted to devil worship: a large alter, upside-down crosses & pentagrams, and books for casting spells.  Scary stuff.  He had some little bit (acting) parts in some big movies.  He made a documentary movie about devil worship.  He had an interest in putting some of my music into one of his movies, but I’m not aware of him making another movie.  Not that I’d want my music in a Satanic movie.

https://www.soundclick.com/aaronaardvark

Cubase 10.5, iMac OSX 10.15.7, memory 8GB, Steinberg UR22 mkII interface

• This post was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by CHRIS.

[CHRIS]

Bear-faced Cow,

Sounds very nice!  I occasionally listen to a Christian rock radio station in my car (I live near Los Angeles).  I could picture this song on that station.  Did I already comment on this song?  It sounds kind of familiar.

https://www.soundclick.com/aaronaardvark

Cubase 10.5, iMac OSX 10.15.7, memory 8GB, Steinberg UR22 mkII interface

[CHRIS]

Bear-Faced Cow,

Thank you for listening and commenting, I appreciate it!  I thought of this weeks ago, though I didn’t want to seem too defensive in the other thread: if I listen to my music with headphones at a pretty consistent volume every time, does that effectively eliminate the Fletcher Munson effect, at least for me?  For example: if I listen to my music at a lower volume while mixing, and the bass frequencies seem lacking, am I not more likely to turn up the bass frequencies to compensate for that?  And then when I listen to it at more normal volume (for me), then it will be too bassy?  Or perhaps you will say I got it bass ackwards?  Don’t worry, I won’t be offended if you elaborate on this more.

https://www.soundclick.com/aaronaardvark

Cubase 10.5, iMac OSX 10.15.7, memory 8GB, Steinberg UR22 mkII interface

[CHRIS]

John,

Thank you for the reply!   🙂

https://www.soundclick.com/aaronaardvark

Cubase 10.5, iMac OSX 10.15.7, memory 8GB, Steinberg UR22 mkII interface

[CHRIS]

Bear-Faced Cow,

If I was more tech savvy, I might be more willing to check my mixes in the car.  I suppose my iPhone could do it better, though I haven’t had the patience to do that.  What I have done in the past, I burn it onto a CD (by that time I’ve had my fill of working on the song).  But until I finalize the CD (which might take months, or more than a year to fill up the CD), I can’t hear it in my car.  Unless I burned all sorts of CD’s.  In days of yore, I would make a cassette tape and could hear it in my car more quickly. OK, finally on to your song: Hey, this sounds really good!  The singing and the melodies, the guitar & bass playing are all very nice.  I think this could have been a hit song in the 70’s.  Your main rhythm guitar riffs remind me of ELP’s great song “From the Beginning”.  By the way, before I played that on YouTube, a Tony Robbins video ad came up, the motivational speaker and best selling author, and he was in the movie “Shallow Hal”.  I’ve known him since the seventh grade.  He played a heck of a prank on me back then, but I’m not going on the public record with that story.  I could tell you in an email or private message.  Cheers!   🙂

https://www.soundclick.com/aaronaardvark

Cubase 10.5, iMac OSX 10.15.7, memory 8GB, Steinberg UR22 mkII interface

[CHRIS]

Bear-Faced Cow,

Thank you for replying twice in my recent thread.  I used to check my mix also with home stereo speakers, but adjusting for that, always made the headphones sound worse with my adjusted mix.  I will review your song today, will probably be tied up for an hour or two.

https://www.soundclick.com/aaronaardvark

Cubase 10.5, iMac OSX 10.15.7, memory 8GB, Steinberg UR22 mkII interface

[CHRIS]

Bear-Faced Cow,

Thank you for listening and commenting.  It is true I mix with headphones, partially so I don’t drive my wife (and previously my daughter when she lived with us) crazy.  And for me, headphones sound way better than the built-in speakers in my iMacs.  I also like the stereophonic separation with headphones too.  Plus I hear most people listen to music nowadays with earbuds (which I don’t like) and headphones.  Though before I started working at home (due to covid), I typically listened to most music on my car radio.  Though my music doesn’t sound that good while driving (to me) due to motor, wind, and road noise.  I hope I don’t sound defensive; just telling you my feelings.  Do you use monitors when you mix?

https://www.soundclick.com/aaronaardvark

Cubase 10.5, iMac OSX 10.15.7, memory 8GB, Steinberg UR22 mkII interface

[CHRIS]

Very good.

https://www.soundclick.com/aaronaardvark

Cubase 10.5, iMac OSX 10.15.7, memory 8GB, Steinberg UR22 mkII interface

[CHRIS]

Maybe I will try Helix Native 1.9 after I complete a song I am working on.  I have spent dozens of hours getting my existing software (I own many plugins) working, I haven’t verified everything is working properly yet.

https://www.soundclick.com/aaronaardvark

Cubase 10.5, iMac OSX 10.15.7, memory 8GB, Steinberg UR22 mkII interface

[CHRIS]

I was content with my older iMac and Mac OS 10.11, but that iMac’s monitor started having major issues; though I wasn’t going to fix it because that iMac is at least 10 years old, so I got a new iMac this month and Catalina came with it.  Several years ago I reverted back to an older Mac OS because after I went with a new (at that time) Mac OS and a lot of my plugins did not work right yet, but I lost all sorts of stuff in the process.  I thought everything was backed up, but it wasn’t.  At least Catalina has been out for a while.  A couple of people on the Line 6 forums upgraded to the latest Helix Native & they said it works OK with Catalina, but I’m leery so far.

https://www.soundclick.com/aaronaardvark

Cubase 10.5, iMac OSX 10.15.7, memory 8GB, Steinberg UR22 mkII interface

[CHRIS]

I wondered if your guitar tone was Helix.  I used a PodXT for several years, along with a Bass Pod (which mostly died), then got a Bass PodXT.  I have used Helix Native for the last ~1 1/2 years.  There is a new version of Helix that just came out, but it seems like it doesn’t work right with Mac OS Catalina that I have now.  I did not download it, because it did not mention Catalina compatibility (but the older Helix Native works, strangely).  Some people tried it with Catalina and it did not work with the latest items on Helix Native.  I show up on the Line 6 forums at times.

https://www.soundclick.com/aaronaardvark

Cubase 10.5, iMac OSX 10.15.7, memory 8GB, Steinberg UR22 mkII interface

• This post was modified 5 years ago by CHRIS.

[CHRIS]

Very good.  I own Arturia Wurli V that I play once in a while.  Toontrack has a Wurlitzer emulation too.

https://www.soundclick.com/aaronaardvark

Cubase 10.5, iMac OSX 10.15.7, memory 8GB, Steinberg UR22 mkII interface

[CHRIS]

Bear-Faced Cow,

Thank you for the review!  Now I know who the real Homer is.  Now listening to your song.  Interesting guitar tone, I like it.  What’s the story behind that?  Nice song.  My lyrics are usually vaguely, or not obviously Christian.  I don’t want to scare off the Satan worshippers too quickly.   🙂

https://www.soundclick.com/aaronaardvark

Cubase 10.5, iMac OSX 10.15.7, memory 8GB, Steinberg UR22 mkII interface

[Author]

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